Ticketfly will be ready by approximately April 15th to purchase VIP seats. There are 300 VIP available along with 500 general admission seats. Each seat this year will be 20 inches wide which is more than in previous years, another good thing.
The Sheraton located in beautiful Downtown Norfolk will begin taking room reservations Wednesday, April 1st. Use the code USOPEN to get the low rate of $89.00 for a single or a double which have 2 queen sized beds. If you’re a smoker just let them know you would like a room with a balcony, half the rooms have them. Isn’t that nice, smokers do not have to go outside of the hotel to have a smoke. There are a total of 468 rooms at the Sheraton, twice as many as at the Marriott.
We have submitted the floor plan to Ticketfly to build which takes 2-3 weeks. There are 300 VIP seats this year which were completely explained very well to be sure every single seat is perfect to ensure there won’t be any problems as we’ve had since 2011. All the rows beginning with the 2 sides of the T.V. arena will be will be set up as follows: first row will be floor level, second row 16 inches high, and the third row platform will be only 32 inches high which is lower than ever before. This will enable all 4 rows on both long sides to be set up as follows: the first platform 56 inches high, second row 72 inches high, third row 88 inches high, and the top row platform will be 104 inches (8 ½ feet) high. As the ballroom is 85x160 feet compared to the 60x120 we’ve had the past 2 years as well as being much wider will now allow for no viewing problems as we had last year. We are very, very sure we have it perfectly right this year. My architect and I worked very hard on the floor plan along with Commonwealth Events Staging out of Richmond and they as well have agreed we have all done our homework to everyone’s satisfaction with both the VIP as well as the general admission seats as we have twice as many seats as last year. Of course in a few weeks we will give everyone who purchased VIP seats the past year a one week window to purchase their same seat or seats prior to anyone else. Roberta will be calling all of you as well very soon.
Again, thank you to the WPA for allowing me to continue having you sanction the U.S. Open as a tier 2 points event to ensure the world’s greatest players from around 20 countries. The Magic Rack must be used with the 9 ball on the spot and the 2 ball on the opposite end and the break box, the true test of pool skills.
Again, all food and beverage prices were negotiated to be very fair to everyone such as lunch for $7.00, a dinner buffet that is better than ever at $15.00, beers and mixed beverages priced very low as it should and will be.
The $75,000.00 added money will be in Pat’s account more than 90 days prior to the event this year which will begin on Sunday October 25th and end on Friday October 30th as to avoid Halloween. The player’s meeting will be Saturday October 24th at 4pm and all players will know by 9pm when they have their first matches on Sunday. Reminder to players that Pat will be collecting all entry fees, they can be paid here: http://www.1vshop.com/Accu-Stats/store.cgi?CMD=010&DEPT=1426876864&BACK=A0004A1 or through Ticketfly beginning April 1st. Information for mailing in payments will be available on the U.S. Open website at www.usopen9ballchampionships.com.
Lastly to my critics both good and not so good, I am very sorry for my mistakes but this year all will be very good indeed.
I Thank You All,
Barry Behrman
Founder and Promoter
U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships 40th Anniversary
